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The article discusses the potential role of the pharmaceutical industry in the quest to improve the access to medicines in less economically developed countries. The author denounces the existence of a medical north/south divide, leaving the overwhelming majority of the population in southern countries deprived and unable to access preventive treatments that are easily available in developed countries. The case study of the AIDS epidemic is used as a painful example underlining this disparity. Topics discussed include disease prevention in southern countries, international cooperation within the domain of medicinal research, and corrupt practices within the pharmaceutical industry.

Information about an array of medical and political topics discussed at a symposium held November 20, 2007 organized by the Académie des Sciences d'Outre-Mer and the Académie nationale de médecine on the theme of infectious diseases and overseas politics is presented. It includes speeches by chairman Gérard Conac, chairman Pierre Ambroise-Thomas of the Académie de médecine, and a lecture by Jeanne-Marie Amat-Roze on the emergence and prevalence of infectious diseases such as HIV in less developed countries.